Half-blinded by pellets, Sopore youth takes life in stride

Publish Date: 23-12-17 8:32 PM

Sopore: A half-blinded youngster in Sopore has not given up hope for life despite multiple surgeries on his eye pierced by pellets and torture in police custody months after he was discharged from hospital. The intake of medicines has badly impacted his body system as he continues to be suffering from writhing pain.
The 21-year-old Zakir Javid Mir who was hit by the government forces on September 2, 2016 says that he has not received any help from any quarter except assurances and paperwork.
“It is painful to see my son in this condition. He is worse than a handicapped person,” asked Mir’s mother Bakhti Begum who is worried as to what would happen to her son after the demise of his parents.
Mir was hit at his village, Bomai, in the outskirts of Sopore town. Two surgeries have been performed on his right eye at the Shri Maharaja Hari Singh (SMHS) Hospital in Srinagar, but there is still no hope of his regaining its vision.
Zakir Javid’s lives in a small house in Bomai village. Youngest among five siblings, Zakir was a class XII student before the firing. He now helps his elder brother at a shop in the village. It is clear at first glance that the young, good-looking boy has no sight in one eye as he can only navigate his home’s small sitting room with the vision in his left one.
Before the tragic episode, Zakir was injured in a bike accident along with a friend. He was coming back from his friend’s place, he said, when his friend lost control over the bike and both fell, badly injuring them.
Mir braved the accidents with a solid resolve but when he looks at his parents he feels down and hurt. “Whatever Allah has written for me, I have to face it. But looking at my parents’ despair, I turn weak,” Zakir said.
“He was my lone son among the three who was studying but after he was hit by pellets everything has changed in his life,” his mother said.
Zakir said that on the fateful day there was a protest in Bomai village and he was watching it from a distance when the government forces deployed there began chasing away the protesting youth. “Suddenly I heard a strange sound and felt an abrupt pain in the right side of my body. I felt as if somebody had set me on fire and I fell unconscious. When I regained my senses, I found myself at the hospital in Sopore from where I was shifted to SMHS Hospital for further treatment,” he said.
“I was operated upon twice in my right eye, on October 11 and 13 by Dr Sabiya. There was no improvement in my condition. I didn’t regain even one percent of vision in my right eye. After I was discharged from hospital, I spent a month’s time in a complete rest,” he said.
“There were hundreds of pellets fired towards me which are still inside my hands, fingers, chest and head. Even after two surgeries, they were not successful in removing the two pellets from my right eye which have burst my retina and are stuck in my head,” he said.
“It is so painful to see that after the forces blinded me, the government and people of Kashmir abandoned me as nobody came to my help. Instead, people arrived to manipulate and exploit my blindness,” Zakir said bitterly.
“A few delegations visited my house, including that of Help Foundation, and promised me some assistance, but after taking my statements and treatment papers, nobody contacted. I tried to call them, but nobody answered my call,” he said.
“My eyes get so much pain in these cold winter days that my whole body shivers and I start crying. I have taken so much of painkillers now that even my stomach has been affected,” Zakir said.
“We take him at least twice a month to SMHS Hospital in Srinagar for a check-up but not in any hope of recovery, just for the medicines to control his pain,” his mother told Kashmir Reader.
“You know, I used to be petrified at seeing a blind person, but now I am myself blind,” the boy rued. “I am a forgotten story. Nobody came to help me. But I have full faith in Allah. I am ready to face anything that Allah has written in my destiny,” he sought to put a brave face.